This morning, Bleacher Report’s Lyle “Spector” Richardson discusses “5 teams in need of a trade” because they didn’t address all their needs during the unrestricted free agent period.
The Red Wings definitely built up their third and fourth lines by re-signing Christian Fischer and Tyler Motte, added goaltending depth in Max Talbot and Jack Campbell, and addressed some of their scoring losses in Vladimir Tarasenko, but Richardson believes that the Red Wings must do more to add to their defense:
On June 25, the Detroit Red Wings traded Jake Walman to the San Jose Sharks for future considerations. It was an obvious salary dump, clearing the 28-year-old defenseman’s $3.4 million average annual value (through 2025-26) from their books. That move seemed to set the stage for a significant addition by the Wings.
The Wings had plenty of salary-cap space entering the free-agent market, but a big portion of it will go to restricted free agents Moritz Seider, Lucas Raymond and Joe Veleno. They brought back Patrick Kane on a one-year deal but opted for smaller depth additions like goalies James Reimer, Cam Talbot, Jack Campbell and blueliner Erik Gustafsson.
That may be because the new deals for Seider, Raymond and Veleno will eat most of their remaining $21.5 million. Still, adding three fading goaltenders won’t address their problems between the pipes. Trading Walman for nothing only weakens their blue line following the departure of Shayne Gostisbehere to the Carolina Hurricanes.
If Yzerman can get Seider, Raymond and Veleno under more affordable terms, it could give him the cap room to acquire a defenseman by peddling a high draft pick or a quality prospect. He was reportedly close to a trade for New York Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba, though complications appear to have scuttled that deal.
Continued; I believe that it’s pretty certain that the graduations of Simon Edvinsson and Albert Johansson from Grand Rapids mean that the Wings’ blueline “is what it is” for now, and may remain in its current state until the trade deadline.
The Wings have enough cap space to re-sign Jonatan Berggren, Raymond, Seider and Veleno, but not much else at this point. They’d have to at least move Justin Holl and his 2 years remaining on his contract at $3.4 million per season to squeeze out some wiggle room, and as that’s going to take some assets in the form of a draft pick or prospect to “sweeten the pot.”
As such, I’m not certain whether we’re going to see a trade for a defenseman for now, especially as the Trouba trade fell through. Detroit may have to wait to sort out its blueline.
